Maine Policy Review Volume 23 | Issue 2 2014 Politics Then and Now: Introduction Richard Barringer University of Southern Maine, [email protected] Kenneth Palmer University of Maine, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr Part of the American Politics Commons Recommended Citation Barringer, Richard, and Kenneth Palmer. "Politics Then and Now: Introduction." Maine Policy Review 23.2 (2014) : 12 -17, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol23/iss2/4. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. POLITICS THEN AND NOW The articles in the following section are from a lecture Politics Then series, “Politics Then and Now, in Maine and the Nation,” and Now presented by the Muskie School and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Southern Maine in the fall of 2013, and from the William S. Cohen lecture held at the University of Maine in November 2013. Most of the speakers are prominent public office holders who were asked to address the issue of politi- cal polarization and dysfunction, comparing how politics was played in the past with the current situation, and discussing what Maine can offer based on experiences here. Series organizers Richard Barringer and Kenneth Palmer provide an overview of the lectures and summa- rize some of the common themes in their introductory article. Tom Allen analyzes the significance of conflicting worldviews in explaining the modern political climate in the United States. Angus King describes a number of factors contributing to the dysfunctional state of politics now, with one of the most fundamental being conflict over the size and scope of government. The remain- ing lectures are presented here as one page-excerpts: George Mitchell, Barney Frank, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Kenneth Curtis; a panel of Amy Fried, Ken Fredette, and Cynthia Dill; and a joint presentation by William Cohen and Alan Simpson. - 12 MAINE POLICY REVIEW Summer/Fall 2014 View current & previous issues of MPR at: digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/ POLITICS THEN AND NOW: Introduction Politics Then and Now Introduction by Richard Barringer and Kenneth Palmer BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT and bargaining must take place between the political parties in this system, as well as among the three separate t is now commonplace that American national poli- branches of government, for national policy to be set Itics has become polarized and dysfunctional of late. and for national institutions to do their work. The inability of Congress to accommodate partisan How ideological battles and party polarization came differences has led to its failure to enact a federal budget to replace the accustomed consensus arrangements of in the past four years,1 a partial federal government compromise and coalition building is a topic that draws shutdown for the first time in 17 years, and the absence much scholarly attention today. While the cited causes of progress on immigration reform, infrastructure for dysfunction are many and complex, a single fact repair, climate change, and other important national illustrates its centrality in today’s Congress. In surveys of challenges. The partisan gridlock has led the American voting behavior among members of the Senate, the most public to give Congress some of its lowest approval liberal member of the Republican caucus was still ratings in history. One recent poll found 85 percent of recorded in roll calls as more conservative than the most Americans hold an unfavorable view of Congress, while conservative-voting member of the Democratic caucus only 9 percent approve. Another indicated that fully (Aldrich 2013). In brief, a long-existing area of ideolog- 54 percent of Americans favor removing all members ical overlap between the two parties at the center of the of Congress. political spectrum has disappeared. The face of the gridlock is the lack of civility, comity, In 2013 a series of lectures entitled “Politics Then and cooperation between two political parties with and Now, in Maine and the Nation” was presented by divergent worldviews as they vie for political power and the Muskie School of Public Service and the Osher policy dominance in a changing world, within a consti- Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Southern tutional system designed for coalition building and Maine. Our lecture series was held at a dark time—mid- principled compromise. September through early November 2013—when the In a parliamentary system such as Great Britain’s, federal government was partially shut down for the first where the prime minister and cabinet ministers all hold time in 17 years for lack of a federal budget, which was seats as lawmakers in the parliament, a single election then extended to January 2014. Congress threatened to may determine the policy direction of the government. default on the nation’s debt and at the deadline In the United States, where the president, the House of extended the limit to February 2014. The initial techni- the Representatives, and the Senate serve different terms cally flawed implementation of the new Affordable Care of office, three election cycles may be required to set Act, “ObamaCare,” only renewed Congressional debate direction. Occasions where each party controls but a about the legitimacy of the law and deepened the part of the government are frequent. partisan divide. This framework was established in the U.S. On November 7, 2013, the same day as our closing Constitution itself. It was much praised by the writers of panel presentation, the 2013 Cohen Lecture was deliv- the Federalist Papers, particularly James Madison, as a ered at the University of Maine, featuring Secretary of way to curb arbitrary authority and to discourage domi- State William S. Cohen and Senator Alan K. Simpson, nance of the government by any one group or faction. on “The State of Our Nation: Hardball vs Civility.” Power was purposely distributed among three branches— Because of its cogent and timely content, we included it the legislative, executive, and judicial—to slow the in our volume, with permission, as a special supplement governing process and the accretion of power and to to the lecture series, under the title, “Enough Is Enough!” allow for careful deliberation. Of necessity, compromise (Barringer and Palmer 2014). View current & previous issues of MPR at: digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/ Volume 23, Number 2 MAINE POLICY REVIEW 13 POLITICS THEN AND NOW: Introduction The central idea behind the lecture series is that continuing along this path? And what will it take we’ve come a long way since President John F. Kennedy to change course? characterized public service as “a noble calling,” to today, • What does Maine have to offer the nation in this when the nation’s political system is routinely described regard, based on our experience here? as “dysfunctional” and public servants as “selfish bureau- crats.” Systems theory has developed and been refined We asked all to include personal anecdotes and since World War II to help us to better understand and vignettes from their own experience to throw light on improve the behavior of complex systems—natural, these questions and to reflect on the lessons their experi- human, and social. A well-established principle of the ence offers Maine and the nation today. Questions and theory is that in any healthy system competition and answers followed each lecture and the panelists’ presen- cooperation coexist side by side, and sometimes cheek tations. As cohosts for the series, we started with a by jowl, to advance the system’s purposes and ends. couple of questions of our own, and members of the Whether it is a forest ecosystem, the human body, a audience joined thereafter. The speakers’ responses elic- bureaucracy, an economy, or a constitutional system, the ited many heartfelt stories from personal experience. system’s elements compete for resources to meet their To set the tone for the series, the first lecture opened own needs, even as they act to contribute to the survival with the viewing of a brief excerpt from the splendid and persistence of the system itself. Public Broadcasting System’s American Experience biography of President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963– 1968), entitled, “LBJ.” [the lecture] series brought Fifty years ago, in the time of presidents Kennedy and Johnson, Americans had come to expect and rely on …distinguished speakers what was called a “consensus politics” in our national government, one built on principle, compromise, and to campus to address the issue deal making across party lines by lawmakers and chief of political polarization and executives alike who believed in this system and its abiding benefits to the people of the nation. dysfunction in our politics. The growth of ideological, uncompromising, take- no-prisoner politics over the past generation takes many in our generation by surprise. It has a number of root causes, and the difference is perhaps nowhere better Somewhere along the way from the 1970s to today, illustrated than in a brief video excerpt from the LBJ the U.S. political system lost sight of this important American Experience biography. It portrays LBJ in all principle, threatening its health and survival. Our series the glory of his domestic legislative triumphs through brought seven distinguished speakers to campus to the skillful application of bargaining, negotiation, address the issue of political polarization and dysfunc- persuasion, and cajolery that were his stock in trade, and tion in our politics. A concluding panel of younger the utter frustration and despair that attended his political leaders examined lessons learned from the seven inability to reach agreement with Ho Chi Minh and end presentations and offered comment on their prospects the war in Vietnam. “If only I just had him in a room, if going forward. The speakers were prominent public only I could sit and talk to him,” LBJ laments, “I’m sure office holders, either present or past, whose careers had we could cut a deal!” It is a tale of irreconcilable differ- in most cases spanned both Maine and national politics.